Heating method and apparatus



F. PUENING HEATING METHOD' AND APPARATUS x Oct. 9, 1928. 7 1,687,142

Filed July 24, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I Fl 5.2. o I

is I 25 Oct. 9, 1928.

F. PUENING HEATING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed July 24, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR mm u m@ .L

Patented Get. 9, 192 8.

UNITED STATES 7 {1,687,1 2 PATENT OFF-ICE. j

FRANZ PU E-NING, F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

HEATING METHOD AND APPARATUS.

Application filed July 24, 1925. :serial 'No. 45,815.

disclosed in 'my Patents Nos. 1,542,953, 7 1,542,954 and 1,542,956, issued June 23., 1925,;

wherein reciprocatory and oscillatory pistons are employed for effecting pulsation of the heated gaseswithin a heating chamber.

In Patents No. 1,542,953 :and 1,5 42,954 means are shown for admitting cooling gases at points intermediate the piston and the body of heating gases, but such points are not closely adjacent to the exposed faces .of the pistons. In Patent 1,542,95t means isshown for circulating a cooling fluid through the ,piston which is hollow. In both patents cooling fluid is admitted to opposite sides of the piston through separate conduits.

By means of my present invention I am enabled tocool a hollow piston both interiorly F and exteriorly of its walls by fluid supplied through a. single conduit. The arrangement not only makes for simplicity of structure,

but the piston is more eificiently' cooled since a stratum of cooling fluidis .created against the heating gases.

the exposed faces of .the piston and relatively small volumes of cooling gas or other fluid will be sutficient, because the fluid is con ducted directly to the surfaces to be cooled, and is not unnecessarily intermingled with A further advantage incident to my im.- provement arises from the fact that the heating gases are not unnecessarily cooled by inter-mingling of large quantities of cooling fluidtherewith,

Furthermore, the piston in the present case is as effectively cooled at its extrem position as at its intermediate position, since I p v dlrec-ted .to .means for'maintaining a cooled the cooling fluid is conducted direotlyto the surface thereof at all stagesof movement.

The present arrangement avoids the necessity of applying heat insulating material to the faces of the piston, thus not only saving the expense of such material, but avoiding the labor and expenseofsecurely maintaining the material in place, and. at the same time reducing theweight of the piston which is important for big pistons.

One object of the present invention is to provide a piston wherein the walls which are exposed to the hot gases are inthe form of diaphragms and wherein such walls are maintained under tension to prevent rattling or vibration thereof, and the piston may furthermore be of relatively light weight.

Another object of my invention is to si-m plify and improve generally the structure and operation ofdevices of the class referred to. I I

Some of the forms which .my apparatus may take-and by means of which the method may be practicedare shown in the accompany-- ing drawing, wherein Fig. '1 is a vertical sec- .tional view-of apparatus embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the frameworkof thepiston'of Fig. 1 Fig.

3is a view,on.anerrlar ged scale,--of a portion 7 of the apparatus of Fig. ,1; Fig. 4. is a vertical sectional view of a modified form 'of device for supplying cooling gases to the diaphragm of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a side elevational viewof an oscillatory piston embodying my invention; Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken .on theline 6 6 of Fig. 5 Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 77 of Fig. 5, and Fig.8 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 5.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a chamberlO in which is mounted a piston 11' that may be reciprocated vertically by arod 12 which is connected to any suitable mechanism for effectingreciprocation thereof." The piston 11 has snug-fitting engagement with the verti cal walls of the chamber 10 sothatas it is ci-procated the heated gases will-be caused to flow through passages 13 the direction indi- .cated .by the arrows when'the piston is moving downwardly, and in the opposite direction when the piston is movedupwardly, thus effecting circulation of the gases in desired directions through :a heating chamber (not shown). after themannershown in the patents above referred to. e

As stated above, .my invention is in part areaupon the exposed faces of the'piston. In order to accomplish this Iconstructa piston of hollow-form and perforate the walls thereofand also provide means for supplying cooling liquidto the interior of the piston. The piston is composed .of tubular, radially projecting members :14 arranged in the manner of spokes. 14 are rigidly .connectedto anannular metallic sleeve 15 which is in turnrigidly securedbetweenupper andlowerlplates 16 by bolts 17 or-otherwise. The walls 15 and-16 At their inner ends the members together form a header chamber with which the tubular members 14 con'nnunicate. The

spokes 1/1 are secured to and communicate at their outer ends with a pipe ring 18, such pipe ring being provided with two series of perforations 19 throughout its circumfer once as shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and. 3.

The outer side of the pipe ring 18 is preferably covered with heat insulating material 20 that is held in place by a channel band 21 of annular form. Frame members 22 of air nular form are welded or otherwise secured to the pipe ring 18 and are riveted to the band 21. r

Diaphragn'rlike members 23 form the upper and lower walls of the piston 11. These diaphragms are preferably of thin metal such as nickel and are riveted at their )erioheries to the frames 22,while at their inner edges they are held tightly against the members 16 by the bolts 17. The diaphragms 23 are provided'with a suitable number of perforations 2a through which cooling may escape as hereinafter explained.

The header chamber formed by the members 1516 is welded or otherwise secured to a hollow piston rod 25 that is perforated to provide communication between the interior of the rod and the said header chamber. A plug 25" is placed in the hollow rod 25, to prevent flow of gas to the lower end thereof.

The upper end of the rod is connected to the rod 12 that is actuated as above explained boxes or glance so that gases will not escape from the chambers 10 and 26.

The cooling is supplied under pressure greater than thatv at the advancing side of the piston so that flow thereof will be constant. As the cooling gas emerges from the perforations 241- it will spread over the outer surface of the diaphragms 23 as indicated in Fi 1 by the shaded lines 28. A Zone of cooling gas is thus maintained adjacent to the faces of the pistomand the piston thereby protected from the hot gases which it is employed tocirculate. Owing to the fact that the cooling is supplied under pressure,

the diaphr '1ns23 are maintained under ten- L {3 u l sion, thus prevent ng rattling thereof. I

Referring to Fig. 4,1 show another means of supplying cooling gases to the piston. In

this structure a hollow piston rod 25 may be connected only to'the lower side of the piston and the various connections above the piston of Fig.1 dispensed with, save for the flap va ves. It will be apparent that as the piston moves down the flap valve of pipe 3iwill be closed and flap valve 36 of the piston opened so that" a flow of gas will be set up in the pipe 25. Upon upward movement of the piston 85, the flap valve of pipe 33 will be closed andthe positions of the other flap valves reversed, so that grasfrom the.

upper portion of the cylinder 31 will be forced upwardly through the conduit 25?. v 7

Referring now to Fig. 5, I have shown my invention as applied to a piston of the oscillatory type, such for example, as that shown in Fig. 1 of. my Patent'No. 1,542,956. In

his structure the piston is mounted upon a hollow shaft 39 through which cooling gas may be supplied under pressure, in the direction indicated by the arrows and which serves 1 as header chamber. A series ,of pipes 40 extend downwardly from the interior of the shaft 39,.being secured thereto in any desired manner. The upper ends ofthese' pipes are perforated as indicated at ll so that gas flowing through the shaft 39 will enter the pipes lO. The pipes at their lower ends communicate with a header 12 which is in perforated at a series of points 18. .A pluvrality of diaphragm-like.metallic plates' l are secured at their vert-ical'edges to the pipes 40 by means of bars 45 that are held in place by bolts 16 as shown more clearly in Fig. 8. i

The upper edges of these plates 4. 1 are held in position by means of bars l? and. bolts 48, whiletheir loweredges are securely held by bars a9 and bolts 50. The plates 14.- are provided with perforations 51 at suitable distancesi A bar 53is disposed between the upper ends of each of the pipes 40 and may be welded to the hollow shaft- 39 as shown in Fig. 6.

It will be seen that the cooling gas flows through the hollow shaft 39 itwillenter the various pipes 40 and will then flow to the header 42. From the header 42 the gases will flow through the openings 43 and 5.1, to provide a film or zone of cooled gas against each face of the piston, as in the case of Fig. 1. If

desired,perforations 52 may also be provided in the sides of pipes 10 so that gases'imay flow directly therefrom to the diaphragm plates.

It will be understood that the relative diameters of the openings or perforations 41 4l3'5152, with respect to each other and with respect to the diameters of the pipes and conduit 39, are such that there will be proper distribution of cooling gas throughout the entire area of the piston.

Should the ribs and bolts which hold the plates 23 and 44 in position, be loose or leakage of fluid occur beneath the edges of the plates, no harmful effect will be produced since it is desired to have flow of cooling fluid from the interior of the pistons to the exterior thereof. The number of perforations 3e and 51 in the plates can be calculated as to number and diameter to compensate for such leakage.

No provision need be made for carrying off the cool gases that emerge through the perforations of the piston, since such gases as they become heated and lose their cooling function, will mingle with the heating gases and are exhausted through the furnace stack.

In certain cases mainly where gas isused for heating, air could be employed as cooling fluid. Having emerged through the perforations of the piston, the air will inits further course of travel mingle with unburned fuel gases and thus be consumed, so that only combusted gases leave the furnace.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of cooling a chambered member employed in actuating heated gases, which comprises conducting relatively cool fluid to the interior and exterior walls of said chambered member simultaneously.

2. The method of cooling a member employed in actuating heated gases, which comprises forming a stratum of relatively cool fluid upon the exposed surfaces of said mem ber.

3. The method of cooling a hollow piston having perforated walls which comprises actuating said piston to effect movement of heating gases, and supplying a cooling fluid under pressure to the interior of said piston.

l. The method of cooling a hollow piston having perforated walls which comprises actuating said piston to effect movement of heating gases, and supplying a cooling fluid to the interior of said piston under pressure greater than the maximum pressure imposed upon said heating gases by movement of the piston.

5. The method of cooling a piston, which comprises actuating said piston to effect movement of heating gases, creating a substantially constant flow of cooling gas to the exposed surfaces of said piston, and permitting said cooling gas to mingle with the heating gases. 1

6. The method of cooling a hollow piston having thin walls which compress actuating said piston to efiect movement of heating gases, and supplying a cooling fiuid to the.

interior of said piston under pressure greater than the maximum pressure imposed upon said heating gases by movement of the piston.

7. The combination with a chamber adapted to receive heated gases, of means for effecting movement of said gases, comprising a piston, and means for creating a strata of relatively cool gas upon surfaces of the piston which are exposed to the heated gases.

8. The combination with a chamber adapted to receive heated gases, of means for effecting movement of said gases, comprising a piston, and means for setting up a flow of cooling fluid across that surface of the piston which is exposed to the heated gases.

9. The combination with a chamber adapted to receive heated gases, of means for effecting movement of said gases, comprising a chambered piston having perforations in its walls, and means for supplying cooling fluid under pressure to said chambered piston.

10. The combination with a chamber adapted to receive heated gases, of means for effecting movement of said gases, comprising a chambered piston having perforations in its walls, a hollow piston rod for actuating said piston, and means for supplying cooling fluid through said piston rod to said piston. 11. The combination with a chamber for heated gases, of means for effecting movement of gases within the chamber, comprising a piston composed of a. frame-work having thin metallicplates secured to opposite sides thereof, and means for conducting fluid to the space between said plates, the plates being provided with perforations to permit escape of said fluid.

12. The combination with a chamber for heated gases, of means for effecting move ment of gases within the chamber, comprising a piston composed of a frame-work having thin metallic plates secured to opposite sides thereof, and means for conducting fluid under pressure to the space between said plates, to thereby maintain the plates under tension. 1

13. The combination with a chamber for heated gases, of means for elfecting'movement of-gases within the chamber, comprising a piston composed of a frame-work having thin metallic plates secured to opposite sides thereof, and means for conducting fluid under pressure to the space between said plates, to thereby maintain the plates under tension, thesaid pressure being greater than the pressures to which the outer surfaces of the plates are normally subjected. In testimony whereof I, the said FRANZ PUENING, have hereunto set my hand.

FRANZ PUENING. 

